HOW HOT IS A BUG?

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 19

HOW HOT IS A BUG?

CHARTING INSECT TEMPERATURE. How hot is a bug? Entomologists have been answering this question for many years. In d6ing so, they have used a thermocouple with which to make the temperature measurement. This is an electric temperature measuring device which can be made of wires so°fine as to be hairlike in dimension. With such an instrument the scientists have pierced the insect whose temperature was to be measured, and taken readings on the electrical meter attached to the thermocouple. According to an article in "Tycas," scientists now are questioning the value of readings taken in this way. They assort that insects are subject, like humans, to surgical shock, and that the temperature retord&d in the usual manner may be far off from th 6 temperature of the same insect under normal conditions of living. _ In the report it is said that Professor Williams, of the University of Minnesota, has devised a new method of measuring' tlie temperature of ms6c s, in which the specimen is not injured. The outside temperature is taken, and the inside- computed from a correlation chart. This may add considerbly to our knowledge of insect temperatures. In his experiments Professor Williams has found that, if frozen solid, insects ao not recover, yet they a?e able to survive the rigours of winter. How do they do it? Why does the freezing temperature vary so widely as it does among insects! These and other questions Professor Williams hopes to answer. The questions may seem to the casual thinker as being good for nothing but the gratification of a curiosity. Our insect problem is an important one, and any side of insect study may offer valuable information on insect control. We can atfffltd to let no bug escape without knowing his normal temperature. A freezing solution might be our best insecticide in the battle with some pests.